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Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas has compared Gareth Bale to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bale continued his brilliant form this season with two goals in Spurs' 2-1 win over Newcastle on Saturday to take his league tally for the season to 13.

The 23-year-old's performances have attracted interest from European giants including Real Madrid, but Villas-Boas believes Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will do everything to keep the club's star man.

"Great teams are made of great individuals too," Villas-Boas said. "Gareth has been decisive and I'm happy to see him enjoying his football - but it's unfair to say we rely on him.

Leicester City suffered a shock 2-1 loss at the hands of Peterborough United to lose more ground in the Championship title race on Saturday.

The Foxes went ahead after 52 minutes through Ben Marshall but failed to see the game out as Davide Petrucci levelled the scores with 16 minutes remaining to the delight of the London Road faithful.

Peterborough then pushed for a winner and found it thanks to Grant McCann in the 88th minute to come away with a memorable and much needed victory.

Leicester are now eleven points behind league-leaders Cardiff in second place on the table while Peterborough stay stranded in last spot despite the win.

Celtic limbered up for the visit of Juventus on Tuesday by posting a comfortable 3-1 Scottish Premier League win over Inverness on Saturday.

In a team featuring nine changes from their 3-0 Scottish Cup triumph over Raith Rovers last weekend, goals from Kris Commons, Rami Gershon and Miku helped pull Celtic 18 points clear on top of the SPL table.

Midfielder Nick Ross had put Caley Thistle into an early lead but they were unable to hang on to it and close the gap on the league leaders.

Inverness hit the front when Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster failed to clear a cross properly, allowing Ross to rifle the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the area nine minutes in.

Besiktas president Fikret Orman has warned Galatasaray that the signings of Didier Drogba and Wesley Sneijder could do more harm than good.

The Turkish champions pulled off a major transfer coup in January when they completed the double acquisition of the star duo from Shanghai Shenhua and Inter Milan respectively.

Orman said he would not have moved for either player given the opportunity, and has suggested that the salary discrepancy between the new arrivals and the rest of the squad could cause disharmony in the dressing room. 

"If Besiktas had as big a budget as Galatasaray, I wouldn't sign Drogba or Sneijder. These two transfers are not exciting for me, and not as big as they seem," Orman told Milliyet.

Gareth Bale inspired Tottenham with two brilliant goals in a nerve-wracking 2-1 victory over Newcastle at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

The Welshman continued his stunning recent form to take his tally for the season to 13 Premier League goals with two deadly strikes to take Spurs to third in the table for at least a few hours ahead of Chelsea's clash with Wigan later on Saturday.

Bale put the hosts ahead in the fifth minute with a free-kick from 25 yards before the visitors equalised through Youan Gouffran's deflected strike in the 24th minute.

Just as Spurs appeared to be running out of ideas, Bale came to the rescue with a fine solo effort in the 78th minute to extend the Londoners' fine form to 10 league games unbeaten.

Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso insists there is still something 'special' about coach Jose Mourinho.

The former Inter boss has been under pressure in the Spanish capital all season as his team have gradually seen their hopes of back-to-back Liga titles slip away from their grasp. 

Matters off the field have not helped either with constant speculation of internal arguments from within the Madrid camp, centred around Mourinho, but Alonso is adamant the coach still has the backing from his players.

"Yes, absolutely," he replied, when asked if Mourinho was still special. 

Catalan television channel TV3 has offered its apologies for a video in which they depicted Real Madrid players as hyenas.

The broadcaster produced a controversial video earlier this week likening Real players to animals preparing to hunt down Lionel Messi.

Madrid midfielder Luka Modric was one of many to voice his dismay with the film at a press conference on Friday, labelling it 'unacceptable', and TV3 has now apologised for producing the clip.

"We were wrong," presenter Xavi Valls said.

A number of reports have suggested Real Madrid could take legal action against TV3, but the Santiago Bernabeu side have not released an official statement on the matter so far.